Ironing

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cmas77
cmas77 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So there has been some discussion around whether ironing should be recorded. I have done in the past as my job is ironing clothes all day. I stand ironing for a heavy iron for 6-10 hours per day. There’s so many different calorie values any suggestions as to the most reliable and accurate. I don’t really want to use figures from woman own etc. A more scientific one would be better.

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  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,360 Member
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    If you fill in your profile here I would put this under the incidental activity field - my incidental activity level is fairly low as I sit at a desk most of my working day. If I was in job when I was on my feet and on the go all day I would choose the highest level. Standing all day but not necessarily on the move/ on the go all the time I would choose moderate to highish level.

    As ironing is your job you could choose moderate to high incidental level to cover off on it but wouldn't need to log it as exercise.

    I would rarely iron 6 to 10 hours at a time, so if by chance I did it every now and then I might consider logging it as a lower level exercise activity level.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 630 Member
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    I agree with tiptoe. Just set your regular activity level as higher.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    Agree with the others set yourself to at least 'lightly active' and don't log, the extra calorie burn will be factored in.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    thats your activity level. not exercise.

    good rule of thumb: if you gained weight doing it, you dont get credit for it as exercise.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,034 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    thats your activity level. not exercise.

    good rule of thumb: if you gained weight doing it, you dont get credit for it as exercise.

    I did exercise while obese, and plenty of it, but stayed obese for a dozen years. Should I not count those hundreds of calories?

    You could say "but that's exercise". However, all activities (exercise or job) burn calories, are part of our TDEE, and need to be considered when we set calories goals for weight management. All the burned calories go in one TDEE bucket. Exercise, job, chores, new activity, old activity - just calories.

    On MFP, the standard process (as the tool is designed) is to account for exercise separately by logging it. As others have said, if ironing is the OP's job, I'd put it in activity level.

    But as long as it's included accurately somewhere, and not double counted, the results should be about the same.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    thats your activity level. not exercise.

    good rule of thumb: if you gained weight doing it, you dont get credit for it as exercise.

    I did exercise while obese, and plenty of it, but stayed obese for a dozen years. Should I not count those hundreds of calories?

    You could say "but that's exercise". However, all activities (exercise or job) burn calories, are part of our TDEE, and need to be considered when we set calories goals for weight management. All the burned calories go in one TDEE bucket. Exercise, job, chores, new activity, old activity - just calories.

    On MFP, the standard process (as the tool is designed) is to account for exercise separately by logging it. As others have said, if ironing is the OP's job, I'd put it in activity level.

    But as long as it's included accurately somewhere, and not double counted, the results should be about the same.

    THIS THIS THIS.

    I totally misunderstood the activity level/TDEE at first and tried to input my daily activity as exercise or just ignore it because, well, I got obese while I was doing it!

    Um.

    No.

    Because I was STILL hauling my 200lb self around for 2 hours a day, over some rough terrain or with periods of sprints and walks, depending while I was obese. I also had pretty good muscle under the fat from doing it. It was still calories I was burning and continued to burn while I lost.

    I just got faster and stronger as I lost.

    Lightly active? Has been fine.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
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    (That said my TDEE has still gone up with weight loss. Usually lightly active and eating what MFP has said maintenance has been fine. This diet break (5lbs from normal bmi) I have continued to lose while I try to figure out wtf my maintenance has moved to. Which is irrelevant to this topic, but driving me insane)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    cmas77 wrote: »
    So there has been some discussion around whether ironing should be recorded. I have done in the past as my job is ironing clothes all day. I stand ironing for a heavy iron for 6-10 hours per day. There’s so many different calorie values any suggestions as to the most reliable and accurate. I don’t really want to use figures from woman own etc. A more scientific one would be better.

    Since that is literally your job and you do it everyday...or most days, you would select an activity level commensurate to that...you include it in your daily activity level and thus it is accounted for. Logging it as "exercise" would be double dipping...it would already be in there and accounted for. You only log activity that isn't accounted for in your activity level.

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